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Friday, 9 September 2016

The German Fairy-Tale Tour, Thursday 8

Really, I suppose, today is Day 1, but we set off last night after a minor panic when the boiler valve came open and we had to re-top-up with water (all sorted now!), and had a very easy, and incredibly dull drive to Folkestone. It was too dark to knit, I was too cold to sleep, and I can't read in a moving car! So I sat there feeling bored. The Swan Whisperer said he was bored, too.

We got to Folkestone at last, and were summoned through without too much of a wait, but then we had to wait ages in the holding area, and even longer on the bridge down to the platform. A man came round and said we wouldn't actually be loading for another ten or fifteen minutes, which meant, rather obviously, that we were going to be late. And, indeed, it was gone 11:00 pm when we finally got on the Shuttle - midnight, European time. So I got ready for bed and then got comfortable and tried not to go to sleep - I didn't want ten minutes' sleep to then keep me awake all night. The Swan Whisperer, who had no such qualms, went to sleep anyway

At long last we reached Calais, and it's only a five minute drive from the terminal to Cité Europe, parked, turned on gas and fridge, opened windows, closed curtains, and bed within ten minutes. And now it is a lovely morning, and I'm going to get up and go to Carrefour for some bread and fruit juice, and maybe some biscuits as we seem to have forgotten them. We do have a fruit cake instead, though! Then we will set off about mid-morning, I expect, to drive through Belgium, which will be very boring but at least I can knit, and I expect we will listen to music.